Another week, another album from 1957 that fits somewhere on the jazz continuum. It’s not that I am getting disillusioned by this project at all but there has been such a high concentration of jazz albums in the last week of so that it’s hard to differentiate some from the others.
After the car-wreck that was Palo Congo I began to fret what ‘wonders’ that Machito’s Kenya would bring. Would I be reaching for the ibuprofen once more and finding solace in late-night reruns of Family Guy on BBC Three? The short answer to that is simply, no.
Unlike Palo Congo Kenya is able to walk the jazz tightrope between dull and frenzied without falling off. Also it never chooses to regale us with some caterwauling moron as a means to make the music feel more ‘ethnic‘. This album is in fact a vibrant celebration of music that seems reminiscent of those found in classy film noir of the late forties, such as Gilda and Notorious, that were all apparently set in South America due to Hollywood’s need to de-vilify the continent after World War Two.
Right I really should stop going on such tangents. While I found the music highly enjoyable this is something that I could never listen to for the music. This is something that I would probably relegate to the realm of background music if I ever needed some alternative jazz or was planning a Golden Age of Hollywood style of party as it would be absolutely perfect.
Therefore I shall be giving this album a rating that reflects this sad fact. This should not detract from the fantastic range of arrangements presented here that never venture into such a spate of discordance that tends to plague a lot of jazz. At least in my opinion.
6.5/10
Fab Four:
Wild Jungle
Holiday
Frenzy
Conversation
After a headache inducing bout of Sabu it appears that my feet are firmly planted once again in jazz country, at least time it is an offering from the most famous name in jazz. Mr Miles Davis.
Unlike most of the music that I have so far reviewed this is not in fact my first encounter with this artist for I have his later album Kind Of Blue loaded onto my iPod so I guess I knew what to expect. As usual this man does not fail to deliver and to me cements his place as the best name in jazz hands down. What’s this though? I said about a week ago that I hated jazz without vocals and made no mention of my respect for Miles Davis? Oh well I guess it just slipped my mind.
Either way, back to the matter at hand. The Birth of Cool starts with a one-two punch of Move and Jeru and what follows is a smattering of cool and breezy jazz tracks that gel into one cohesive whole. With the exception of the closer Darn That Dream which just feels incredibly out of place.
Compared with the other jazz albums that I have been subjected to this has the feeling of a solid gold chocolate bar suspended in swamp of molten lime jelly. However, when placed alongside all other albums I decided to be more stringent on the ratings as I could feel myself getting carried away due to the complete weirdness of this weeks albums. Also I don’t feel it lives up to either Tragic Songs of Life or This is Fats which meant a slightly downgraded rating.
7.5/10
Fab Four:
Move
Venus Di Milo
Deception
Boplicity
While I did enjoy Brilliant Corners a change in musical genre is greatly appreciated. So what we have here is Palo Congo which is essentially a mish-mash of random and apparently compatible influences. Unlike the rest of the previous albums I listened to this album late at night rather than during the afternoon, the reason being that I was chilling in a park with a mate and some vanilla milkshakes. Anyway, enough about my social life and back to the album.
My first listen to this was not very successful since it actually culminated in my having a headache and having to take a few ibuprofen and lying down for half an hour before I attempted the second listen. This wasn’t helped by some random guy on the fifth track Simba who would pop up every now and then, scream like a bird and then lie and wait for the next opportunity to piss me off.
The really annoying thing about this album is that it opens with such an addictive, amazing track and it just then trails off into what sounds like a disorganised mess. It’s a real pity as El Cambanchero is a scorcher of a track who’s brilliance is just not lived up to. This is made very plain in the follower Billumba-Palo Congo where it sounds like some random old man has ambled into the recording sessions and is just shouting things at the players in some strange call-response ritual.
This is clearly just me not being able to cope with the sheer multitude of what is going in on in some of the tracks as suddenly you get to tracks like Asabache which is rather simple and features some absolutely astounding percussive work. But then this is followed by the headache inducing Simba where the crazed howls just form a black cloud over the rest of an album that is far stronger in it’s absence.
The rating that I give is very low mainly due to the excruciating headache that one or two of the tracks gave me. However, I decided that a second rating is in order just to show how much this one duff track takes away from the rest.
4.0/10 (5.5 if Simba was excluded)
El Cambanchero
Asabache
Rhapsodia Del Maravilloso
Aggo Elegua
Wow, a character from Harry Potter composed and recorded a critically acclaimed jazz album, who knew?
Anyone who read my rather damning review of The Atomic Mr. Basie yesterday will have probably pre-empted what I am about to say about Thelonious Monk’s seminal jazz album Brilliant Corners. Well, oh ye of little faith, you would be wrong. I actually liked this album.
What makes it different from the previous jazz albums for me is that I didn’t actually find this dull. Even though on a 45 minute album there are only 5 monster-length tracks, one reaching 13 minutes (this will ultimately feel like a standard pop song once I tackle Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield where both tracks on the album exceed 23 minutes!).
Another thing that sets this apart is that the album just immediately grabbed me on the word go with the titular track Brilliant Corners I mean ok the slightly off-key piano playing was a tad disconcerting but I guess it’s just a ploy for attention that further draws you in. This is then followed up by the aforementioned monster Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are which although u can tell it is a long bastard of a track it doesn’t matter as you can just go with it.
So yea, for a jazz album I found this immediately enjoyable. I mean okay, it’s probably not something I’ll chose to download onto my iPod but it’s definitely something that if someone wanted to give a go I would encourage them. Mainly because… it’s unusual for me to like an instrumental jazz album.
6.0/10
Fab Tracks (As four would be the majority of the album):
Brilliant Corners
Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are
Pannonica
Right, this is one of the albums that will make me glad to have firmly left the 1950s. Unfortunately for me the sixties are still about a month away so I need to stick around for a while and sample the jazz music of this decade.
As you probably guessed from my abysmal rating of Ellington at Newport 1956 jazz music really isn’t my forte. Ok that isn’t exactly true. INSTRUMENTAL jazz music is not my forte. While I know I should be able to kick back and appreciate the musical arrangements and skilled piano playing, which believe me is good, but I just need the vocals. As such I found The Atomic Mr. Basie irremissibly dull.
There really isn’t much to say about this to be honest. Maybe tomorrow will reap better rewards… oh, maybe not. Meh, I’ll keep an open mind
3.5/10
Fab Four:
…yea I dunno. Nothing really jumps out at me
Right this is an album where I really need to wear my historical significance hat for. As I started listening to it immediately the first thought was ‘right, well this isn’t anything new really’ and then got a bit complacent about the whole thing. Then when I got to Tell Me How a thought dawned. It is true, I have heard this all before, by later artists, and as That’ll Be The Day began to play was when I really began to listen out.
The year is 1957 and the current musical climate is really nurturing two types of musician. Those who have the voices and have the material handed to them such as Elvis and then those who are able to write and sing their own material but due to race are unable to get the true exposure they need or deserve. Out of this you suddenly get Buddy Holly and his band The Crickets. They have the voice, they have the song writing ability and they don’t have race standing in their way preventing them from making it big in the states. I mean ok they are all pretty goofy looking but TV has only really just begin to hit it’s stride. They were in face a whole new breed of musicians that would form the template for many acts in the years to come.
Anyway, I believe that’s me going on a mini-rant. What about The “Chirping” Crickets as an album? I was really underwhelmed by it on the whole. While I can appreciate the brevity of the whole thing, with only one song creeping above the 2:30 mark, nothing much really happens here. While I can appreciate this album for what it later spurred on, which owes a lot to the death of Buddy Holly at the tender age of 22 in that infamous plane crash, it doesn’t really do much for me. In fact there was a song or two where I felt it dragged a little… and considering how short these songs are that is pretty impressive. Sorry.
5.0/10
Fab Four:
Oh, Boy!
Maybe Baby
That’ll Be The Day
Rock Me My Baby
Well look who it is, old blue eyes strikes again making him the first artist to be featured twice if taken chronologically with a third appearance in the mid-sixties. The first thing that strikes me about Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! is what a difference a year really makes. I mean it was only a year ago, or in this case about a week ago, where Sinatra brought out In The Wee Small Hours a collection of maudlin ballads that greatly reflected his split with actress Ava Gardner.
So here he is with the album that truly established him as the king of swing and boy does he come out swinging *cringe* with the seminal version of You Make Me Feel So Young. This is followed by a steady stream of brilliantly arranged tunes that just warrant multiple listens. Which makes it a little wonder why so many of the tracks off this album have been ingrained into the public consciousness. None more worthy of this accolade is I’ve Got You Under My Skin which is one of those songs that everyone has heard in random films but probably most have probably never actually listened to it.
The fact is that most would be forgiven thinking most of these songs as being written specifically for Sinatra with the way that these are widely regarded as the seminal versions whereas in fact many of these songs were actually over 10 years old. Does this matter? Not one iota. Just thought it’s an interesting thing.
Upon hearing this for the third time I really wonder why acts like Westlife and Robbie Williams even try. Frank Sinatra is the truly undisputed king of swing and the quicker we can accept it the quicker we can move on to doing something original. Why have second-rate imitations when we have the master.
8.5/10
Fab Four:
You Make Me Feel So Young
Too Marvellous For Words
I’ve Got You Under My Skin
Anything Goes (I’ve always had a soft spot for this song)
Right, this is the first album where there was some degree of trouble acquiring. So instead of the original 1956 version what I have here was a recreation released in the late nineties. The main issue being that now this lasts for about an hour and a half instead of forty. Oh well.
There is no doubting the historical significance of this night with it being called one of THE nights in show business, the only other coming to mind being the legendary evening at Carnegie Hall administered by Ms. Judy Garland in 1961.
The main issue here is the sheer length of the album and (being a live album) the constant punctuations that arise through the introduction of the next piece. The real annoyance being the interjections by Father Norman O’ Connor… I mean seriously whoever was in charge of the album couldn’t have just edited this guy out? Either that or at least he could’ve been witty which would have warranted some inclusion, 40 years later who the fuck cares that a certain journalist is sitting in the audience!
While there is no doubt in my mind that this was a huge event there is something that really doesn’t gel with me. Don’t get me wrong about this as the performances are masterful but it’s hard to sit through an hour and a half of this, with the exception of Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo In Blue which is actually amazing.
It would definitely be something that would be better in real life rather than just listened to on some cloudy summer afternoon while eating lunch. However, this was never an album I could really get into or enjoy. WAY too long and gave me the urge to get a pillow and sleep on the floor under a table. That’s not a good sign right?
4.0/10
Fab Four:
Part III: Newport Up (from Disc One)
Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo In Blue
Tulip or Turnip (because for some reason it appeared to instigate a riot)
Mood Indigo
Finally, we hit an album where the singer actually has song-writing credits on the vast majority of the material. The last few albums really got me thinking on how much we expect from artists nowadays. Not only do they now have to have the voice but also the image, the ability to write their own songs and then of course some form of charisma. Being able to play an instrument is an optional extra that gains you extra kudos. So, Fats, mate, you have my immediate respect for actually embodying the majority of this way back when. In the fifties it was truly the age of the songwriter who, if they were able to write a few standards such as Blueberry Hill, would be truly rolling in money as artist after artist in a multitude of genres covered their work.
Anyways, I digress from the matter at hand. What did I think of This Is Fats?
In short: I love it. In long: I luuuuuuuuuuuurve it.
And in the end what isn’t there to love on this album? Catchy feel-good tracks, ace piano-playing by the man himself and enjoyable vocals. Unlike The Wildest!, which I reviewed yesterday, this album lost none of it’s glimmer upon the second listen, let alone the third that followed soon after. Granted that I am only a sixth of the way into the selection from the fifties but so far I feel that it is safe to say that there won’t be an album to beat this in sheer pleasure factor. When it comes to an album’s ability to evoke emotionally I am going to reserve all judgement until after I have been subjected to Billie Holiday’s Lady In Satin where the reputation is far preceding it.
Either way, this is a great and enjoyable album that can either be enjoyed as backing music whilst doing other things or as a direct listen. A rare combo.
8.0/10
Fab Four:
Blueberry Hill
Blue Monday
La-La
You Done Me Wrong
Side Note: My Last.fm account is really beginning to look odd
I am not so proud to admit that upon first sight of the cover art to Louis Prima’s The Wildest! I didn’t know what to expect. I mean it matches the title of the album to a tee with his mouth wide open in some cavernous grin but as to the sort of music I was lost. It was only when I found out that he was the voice of King Louie from The Jungle Book that the penny dropped. Swing-Music.
Bearing that in mind I tried to keep an open mind and as such first found this a very enjoyable listen. As all good albums endeavour to do it opens with a foot-tapping flourish with the medley of Just A Gigolo and I Ain’t Got Nobody. The album flows well with many tracks begging to be danced along to, a flow interrupted by Spotify’s insistence of three adverts in a row.
For the most part this is a good album, but there is a certain song that just grated on me completely where upon I began to recoil as I knew what was coming. The song in question being The Lip whereby the repeated high-pitch wailing of some brass instrument caused such discomfort which can only be compared to the ‘ka-ching’ at the end of Grace Kelly by Mika.
The clear highlight of this album is Jump, Jive an’ Wail which should be instantly recognisable to any swing-music novice through it’s sheer usage in film and television as a way to portray the era. However, this album is very hard to rate.
Upon the first listen I thought that it was a fantastic toe-tapping romp, however upon the second listen found that a lot of the tracks had already lost their sparkle. When the thoughts of ‘when will this end’ begin to creep in with respect to an album with a running time of 32 minutes you realise that maybe this isn’t the album for you. As such the best bet, in my opinion is to split the difference between the two ratings from the first and second listens.
6.5/10
Fab Four:
Medley: Just A Gigolo / I Ain’t Got Nobody
(Nothing’s Too Good) For My Baby
Jump, Jive an’ Wail
(I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead) You Rascal You
Well it didn’t take me long at all until the first artist that I had never heard of. Of no real surprise really considering that country/bluegrass has never had that much of a foothold in Britain. For the most part that is a shame as brilliant albums such as Van Lear Rose and Gunpowder & Lead just don’t register on the British radar. Anyway, this is beside the point and in fact a bit redundant with respects to this album in general.
I have always thought that in music there is nothing more unsettling than a cheerful sounding track with a darker message that underpins it. When done well, such as or Madonna’s offering on domestic violence (Till Death Do Us Part), these songs can be a real boon whose rewards are reaped on that ever fateful second listen where you start to listen to the songs ever more closely.
This is what gives Tragic Songs of Life so much strength as on the first listen these are all pleasant country/bluegrass songs that warrant either some form of hoedown or the purchase of hammock, seriously I had a fantasy while listening to Katie Dear that I was in a rocking chair. Then suddenly a word catches your ear and what is revealed is a tragic song about a lover’s committing suicide. For me Katie Dear was actually the song that made me double take and take notice of the lyrics.
This album is in fact littered with songs about everyday tragedies such as heartache (Let Her Go, God Bless Her) to far more macabre turns about someone murdering their lover and depositing their body (Knoxville Girl) and how the death of a mother caused the rest of her family to die of grief (Mary Of The Wild Moor).
Ok, I may have some form of morbid curiosity when it comes to the macabre. That’s kind of a mute point. However, this album not only satisfies this curiosity but also have some element of a shock factor that is still preserved some 50-odd years later. The fact that some of these songs were standards and/or traditional songs just makes it all the more compelling. This is the first album where I expect to listen to it all again in the interim periods between the next 998, depending how far I get.
8.0/10
Fab Four:
Kentucky
Katie Dear
Knoxville Girl
Mary Of The Wild Moor
Elvis Presley’s eponymous debut truly hit’s the ground running with the catchy and upbeat Blue Suede Shoes loses a bit of momentum on the next track (don’t get me wrong it’s still good) but just fails to keep up the pace and falls completely flat at the next track along. This pattern does repeat itself very often as the album goes along with the latter half of the album really being more miss than hit. This is a real pity as when it is good it is VERY good with foot-tapping music that you just can not help but bop along to. But this is very quickly extinguished by some of the schmaltz that makes you want to reach for the next track.
While there are exceptions to the rule (such as Suspicious Minds, In The Ghetto and, from this album I'm Counting On You) Elvis truly does sound at his best when the songs are more upbeat and are better to swing-dance to. Songs like Tutti Frutti just conjure up the images of teens in diner’s sharing vanilla malts listening to the new music. Okay maybe I’ve watched Pleasantville one too many times but that’s just an opinion I am venturing
Historically speaking there is no question that this album does belong on a list of albums that you need to listen to, just because of what this album did. Firstly, it launched the career of arguably the most famous singer of all time (I would happily argue more than John Lennon or Michael Jackson) and for that this album is truly impressive. Secondly this has the great distinction of being the first truly successful rock ‘n roll album. So again this album has some historical value.
However, being a purely preferential escapade of mine I am probably unlikely to listen to the whole album again, with the exception of the highlights. Other than that it is a tad disappointing.
5.0/10
Fab Four:
Blue Suede Shoes
I’m Counting On You
One Sided-Love Affair
Tutti Frutti
Right, here we go with the first album on the list; Frank Sinatra’s In The Wee Small Hours.
I’ll be honest that before this all I knew of Frank Sinatra was his connections to the mob, the fact that he has won an Oscar and could only name two of his songs off the top of my head. No prizes for guessing that I am referring to New York, New York and My Way. However, I am trying to keep my mind open here and seeing how I find these albums.
Needless to say that I was caught completely off guard. I was expecting some crooning that was only a slight improvement on Ray Quinn, if you haven’t heard of him then I am incredibly jealous, and I’ll put my hands up and admit that I was wrong. I will also admit that I was fending off tears for the majority of the time that I first listened to the album all the way through with some creeping out just as the opening track In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning began to play.
What we have here is an album composed entirely of ballads. Something that you wouldn’t be able to get away with nowadays unless your voice is powerful just like Mariah Carey or Leona Lewis, and even then the critics would still paw merciless at you demanding for something a bit more upbeat (unless it is deemed moody and artistic like White Chalk by PJ Harvey when all bets are apparently off).
With only one type of song present on this album it is a credit to Sinatra that this doesn’t feel at all dull. The saving grace of the album being the sheer emotionality of his voice, there is some warm velvet-like quality that is o-so disarming. When he sings of loneliness and heartache an instant connection appears to form. One that isn’t that disrupted by the annoying adverts that are weaved in by Spotify… not cool. In a way it’s almost like listening to a fluffy pair of slippers if they ever had recourse to sing, warm and cosy. Also, you have just got to love the fifties production style with the heavy strings and the occasional twinkle in the background. There is no doubt as to when this was recorded in that respects.
This is an impressive album and has already set the bar high for the next 1000 to follow.
7.0/10
(With 1000 albums to go it doesn't help to give a 7 to compare the rest against)
Fab Four:
In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
I Got Along Without You Very Well
When Your Lover Has Gone
Last Night When We Were Young
Hi there.
If you are reading this then I finally got round to doing this. So welcome to my deranged assignment to try and listen to all 1001 albums from the book ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die’
Spanning 52 years of music from Frank Sinatra to Klaxons I shall be attempting to make my way through them all in the better part of 4 years. So yes, I am in it for the long haul.
Why am I doing this? Well it dawned on me that there are so many artists that I have never actually listened to, such as any song by David Bowie. Also I have never listened to ‘classic’ albums such as Nevermind, Abbey Road or even Dark Side of The Moon. Shameful no? Therefore this is something that needs to be rectified. Another reason that I am doing this is that I have fallen back into my old listening patterns whereby in the last 3-4 months I have listened to female vocalists almost exclusively, with the exception of one spin of Mutations by Beck.
Therefore, 5 days a week I will be listening to one of these albums twice or more, except for albums spanning over 2 hours (yes Magnetic Fields I am looking at you) and then shall write my thoughts on each one. Just a warning to those who read this, some of the reviews will be very opinionated, there are some that I have already heard and am not looking forward to sampling whether it be due to mental pain or from laughing too hard the last time I listened to it.
So here is my aim. I hope to see you soon in my next reviews (^_^)
Another week, another album from 1957 that fits somewhere on the jazz continuum. It’s not that I am getting disillusioned by this project at all but there has been such a high concentration of jazz albums in the last week of so that it’s hard to differentiate some from the others.
